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A 2020 art exhibition saw an unholy disembodied robot mouth sing endless streams of prayers, generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.The installation is "an experimental set-up to explore the possibilities of an approximation to celestial and numinous entities by performing a potentially neverending chain of religious routines and devotional attempts for communication through a self-learning software," the team behind the singalong write on their website.
The effect is eerie and admittedly quite funny, as you watch the disembodied robo-mouth and nose belt out fairly accurate impressions of religious singing, which are generated entirely by AI.
The view from the front is no less disconcerting.
The robot mouth itself has come along well in the years since its invention in 2011, though its oddly terrifying design of mouth flaps below a nose remains roughly the same. Its previous voice was something else to behold entirely.
The team behind the latest musical project aims for listeners to think about artificial intelligence as well as belief.
"In all forms of religious belief the connection and communication with the supernatural is attempted by diverse modes of meditation and praying," the team write. "What happens with a self-learning software that executes almost all prayers, canonic or private, known to mankind?"
